{"id":726322,"date":"2026-02-03T13:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/726322\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T13:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:35:17","slug":"ukraine-condemns-fifas-gianni-infantino-call-him-moral-degenerate-over-russia-ban-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/726322\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine condemns FIFA\u2019s Gianni Infantino, call him \u2018moral degenerate\u2019 over Russia ban comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has received condemnation from leaders in Ukrainian politics and sports after stating his desire on Monday to bring an end to Russia\u2019s ban from competing<\/a> in official competitions in international football.<\/p>\n

The leader of world football\u2019s governing body has been described as a \u201cmoral degenerate\u201d by Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha.<\/p>\n

Following Vladimir Putin\u2019s full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, FIFA co-ordinated with European football\u2019s governing body UEFA to ban Russian teams from both club and international competitions.<\/p>\n

FIFA were broadly perceived to have been bounced into the decision following pressure from outraged European nations, several of whom made clear they would refuse to play against Russia in World Cup playoff fixtures scheduled close to the events. Nations including Poland, Sweden and England stated they would not play against Russia.<\/p>\n

The decisions were eventually taken by the the Bureau of the FIFA Council and UEFA\u2019s Executive Committee. In February 2022, a FIFA statement said: \u201cFootball is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents (of FIFA and UEFA) hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Russian leader Vladimir Putin and FIFA\u2019s Gianni Infantino (left) at the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow. (Ian MacNicol \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

FIFA also announced a $1 million (then \u00a3924,000) humanitarian donation. \u201cIn the face of this conflict, we want to do our part and support the people in Ukraine and the ones who have fled the war,\u201d Infantino said at the time.<\/p>\n

Yet in an interview with Sky News on Monday<\/a>, Infantino said \u201cwe have to\u201d when asked if he would explore lifting the ban on Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely,\u201d he added. \u201cBecause this ban has not achieved anything, it has just created more frustration and hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino added that FIFA \u201cshould actually never ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders\u201d while also claiming that allowing boys and girls from Russia to play football elsewhere in Europe \u201ccould help\u201d the situation.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister Sybiha posted on social media:<\/a> \u201c679 Ukrainian girls and boys will never be able to play football \u2014 Russia killed them. And it keeps killing more while moral degenerates suggest lifting bans, despite Russia\u2019s failure to end its war. Future generations will view this as a shame reminiscent of the 1936 Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi also criticized Infantino<\/a>, saying on social media: \u201cGianni Infantino\u2019s words sound irresponsible \u2014 not to say infantile. They detach football from the reality of children being killed \u2026 As long as Russians continue killing Ukrainians and politicising sport, their flag and national symbols have no place among people who respect values such as justice, integrity and fair play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bidnyi gave examples of young Ukrainian athletes and sports lovers whose lives had been claimed. He cited the case of\u00a0 Illia Perezhogin, \u201ca 10th-grade student at a Mariupol school, who was simply playing football at his school stadium when a Russian missile struck.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cFormer futsal player Viktoriia Kotliarova was killed together with her mother during the shelling of Kyiv on December 29, 2023. She was a Kyiv Student Futsal Cup champion and a winner of the Dynamo Student League tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

I agree. Russia should still be banned from playing FIFA Soccer while they continue their barbaric invasion. Treat Putin like the pariah he is. https:\/\/t.co\/gc30mXUrJq<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Rep. Don Bacon \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u2708\ufe0f\ud83c\udfcd\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\ud83c\udf96\ufe0f (@RepDonBacon) February 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Response also came from congressional representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and member of the Congressional Soccer Caucus, supporting the criticism of Infantino. \u201cI agree,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cRussia should still be banned from FIFA Soccer while they continue their barbaric invasion. Treat Putin like the pariah he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Ukrainian Football Association (UFA) said they urged FIFA and its president \u201cnot to change the position of football authorities on excluding Russians from football competitions while the war against Ukraine continues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Posting on Facebook, the UFA said<\/a>: \u201cMilitary actions on the territory of Ukraine continue, the situation has not improved, attacks destroy civilian infrastructure and the lives of civilians. Russians continue to attack on the front line. Due to constant attacks of settlements throughout the country, millions of Ukrainians are left without light, water and heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe disagree with the claim that a ban against the aggressor does not work. We believe that suspension from participation in competitions is an effective method of pressure against the aggressor. The potential reintegration of any national team of Russia jeopardizes the security and integrity of the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sergei Palkin, the CEO of Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk<\/a> said in a statement to\u00a0The Athletic that a return to competition for Russia \u201crepresents a complete detachment from reality\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is this: we have been surviving a full scale war for four years,\u201d Palkin said. \u201cHundreds of thousands of people have been killed. Cities have been destroyed. Civilian, sporting, energy and heating infrastructure has been devastated. The lives of millions of people has been shattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to publicly ask Mr Infantino: What led him to make such a statement at this moment? And why, after four years of war, has he not once come to Ukraine to see with his own eyes what is happening here?<\/p>\n

\u201cLet him come and see how people live. How children play football in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kyiv and Lviv \u2014 under air-raid sirens, next to bomb shelters, under the constant threat of missiles and drones.<\/p>\n

\u201cA statement about the return of Russian football is not a \u2018step towards peace.\u2019 It is a continuation of this horror. It is an attempt to pretend that the war and aggression do not exist. Football cannot exist outside reality. And it has no right to turn a blind eye to evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, FIFA and UEFA lifted bans on Russia Under-17 teams from participating in international tournaments across the men\u2019s and women\u2019s game, provided they competed as the \u201cFootball Union of Russia,\u201d and in the absence of their national flag, their national anthem, their national-team kit and equipment, and played in neutral colors.<\/p>\n

UEFA then U-turned on their plans to reinstate Russia\u2019s under-17 side in the age-group youth European Championship in 2024 following pushback from member associations, including England.<\/p>\n

UEFA had said previously that football \u201cshould never give up sending messages of peace and hope.\u201d Under UEFA\u2019s initial plan, proposed matches would have been conducted without the Russian flag, anthem, or kit, and would not take place on Russian territory.<\/p>\n

Infantino\u2019s comments opposing bans on national teams comes amid pressure for FIFA to take action against Israel.<\/p>\n

FIFA was accused by the Palestinian Football Association in May<\/a> of failing to provide \u201cclarity or due process\u201d as part of its ongoing investigation into alleged breaches of its statutes by Israeli football teams and authorities, amid the war in Gaza and Israeli support of settlements in Palestinian territories. As of October 2025, over 68,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to numbers cited by the BBC attributed to the territory\u2019s Hamas-run health ministry<\/a>, following an escalation of the conflict after October 7 attack in 2023, when an estimated 1,200 people were killed in a Hamas-led attack on Israel.<\/p>\n

FIFA have previously been scrutinised over their relationship with Russia after the men\u2019s World Cup in 2018 was held in the country, four years after the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea and incursion in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014.<\/p>\n

Palkin told The Athletic in September 2022<\/a>: \u201cEverybody should have called attention to what was going on and everybody kept silent. You see what happened next and it is clear that 2018 was a big, big mistake. Putin did all those things in Crimea and he waited for the reaction from European organisations and there was no (big) reaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the reasons for what then happened on February 24, when Ukraine was invaded. They are connected stories. If, in 2014, there had been a strong reaction from the whole European Union, from organisations like FIFA, from the whole world, maybe this (latest) war would never happen. But I am telling you, 100 per cent, when FIFA allows Russia to have the World Cup in 2018, Putin believes and thinks his actions are OK, that he can take more and more steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the World Cup, in February 2019, Russian president Putin signed a decree to award Infantino with the Order of Friendship due to the FIFA president\u2019s \u201cenormous contribution\u201d to Russia\u2019s World Cup. The ceremony took place at the Kremlin in Moscow.<\/a><\/p>\n

Upon receipt, Infantino said to Putin: \u201cThis is not the end; it is only the beginning of our fruitful cooperation and interaction. On behalf of the whole football world, which means four or five billion people across the globe, thank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n